Cuba’s iconic leader Fidel Castro dies aged 90

Fidel Castro led the Communist revolution in Cuba in 1959. Only in April this year, he had made a rare appearance at the Communist Party congress where he spoke of his advancing age and exuberated confidence that Cuban people will be "victorious"

NEW YORK (TIP): Fidel Castro, Cuba’s former president and leader of the Communist revolution, has died aged 90, state TV has announced. It provided no further details.

Fidel Castro ruled Cuba as a one-party state for almost half a century before handing over the powers to his brother Raul in 2008. His supporters praised him as a man who had given Cuba back to the people. But his opponents accused him of brutally suppressing opposition. In April, Fidel Castro gave a rare speech on the final day of the country’s Communist Party congress.

He acknowledged his advanced age but said Cuban communist concepts were still valid and the Cuban people “will be victorious”. “I’ll soon be 90,” the former president said, adding that this was “something I’d never imagined”.

“Soon I’ll be like all the others, “to all our turn must come,” Fidel Castro said.

A Timeline

1926: Born in the south-eastern Oriente Province of Cuba

1953: Imprisoned after leading an unsuccessful rising against Batista’s regime

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